False Hope
Many people live in false
hope. It is on false hope that every casino makes its
dirty money and that every crook uses to lure his
victims to invest in questionable schemes. The sad thing
is that the victim is as much to blame as the
con-artist. While it is terrible to see people live in
the false hope that their ten dollars are suddenly going
to become ten million, it is even worse to see people
gamble with their souls and eternity. People who put
their trust, hope and confidence in a religion that
cannot save them are to be pitied. But the men who
assure people that everything is well when it is not,
are to be condemned.
Most of us have probably
been to funerals where the preacher assured everyone
that the departed has gone to “a better place”. Many of
us have also known deep down in our hearts that it is
more likely that many of the poor departed have gone to
hell because of the evidence of their lives. (I know
that God alone is the judge, but the Bible also teaches
that we will know men by their fruit.) No matter how
much the preacher wants to comfort the grieving family,
to lie about such a serious thing is inexcusable,
especially when those preachers are also inferring that
living can continue in their sin, in the end we will all
go to heaven – together with our dogs and cats.
But an even greater crime is
the thousands of preachers of all denominations that see
it as their mission to give people some “assurance of
salvation” when there is no evidence that the poor
individual is actually born-again. I clearly remember as
a young preacher, how my elders taught me to point
people to certain pet verses in the Bible (like John
1:12) that will give them an assurance of salvation.
Many Bibles that contain lists of scriptures appropriate
for different circumstances also contain a list of
verses that will give the reader assurance of salvation.
It seems every preacher has in his arsenal a bunch of
sermons that will assure people that they are saved.
The typical conversation
with someone who is uncertain usually goes something
like this: Enquirer: “I don’t feel I’m saved”.
Counselor: “We don’t go by feelings but by faith. Did
you ask Jesus into your heart / pray the sinner’s prayer
/ respond to the appeal?” Enquirer: “Yes”. Counselor:
“Then you are most certainly born-again – just believe
it and quote John 1:12.” I’m sure this conversation
takes place many times every day in every part of the
world. But is this the truth?
No, it is a pack of lies.
How can anyone assure someone they are saved when the
sinner has not truly come to salvation? Is our job to
make people feel comfortable and secure or is it to
snatch souls from the flames and to make absolutely sure
that people have been truly born again by the Spirit of
God? (By the way the same thing happens when people are
assured they are filled with the Spirit when the
evidence says that they are powerless and unchanged, if
they are even saved!)
I know these are strong
words and that a few dozen readers have stopped reading
and are unsubscribing from this mailing list right now.
But are we interested in the truth or our Evangelical
traditions? The truth is that many of the criteria that
counselors use to judge whether an individual is born
again or not, are thoroughly unbiblical and false. Where
does it say that we are born again because we asked
Jesus into our heart, prayed the sinner’s prayer,
slipped our hand up or responded to the altar call? It
may be written in evangelism manuals but it is not in
the Bible. And before you rush to remind me that John
1:12 says: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave
the right to become children of God” and that this
surely covers inviting Jesus into your heart – The fact
is that “receiving Him” and “asking Jesus into your
heart” are two totally different things. By “receiving
Him” John means we receive Him as our Savior, Lord and
Master and that we submit to all the claims He may make
on us. I very much doubt that most of those who asked
Jesus into their lives ever meant that they would accept
His Lordship and that they would be obedient to Him, no
matter what. In fact, the next verse says: “who were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:13). This clearly
says that to be born again is not something we can do
for ourselves but it is something that God has to do.
Where on earth did we get the idea that it was something
that was totally dependant on what I have done?
The New Testament does not
give glib, easy assurances of salvation but rather
instructs us to “examine yourselves as to whether you
are in the faith. Test yourselves.” (2Corinthians 13:5).
And “let each one examine his own work” (Galatians 6:4).
And “since a promise remains of entering His rest, let
us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it”
(Hebrews 4:1). And “looking carefully lest anyone fall
short of the grace of God” (Hebrews 12:15).
Can we not know for sure
that we are saved? Yes we can. Paul says “I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep
that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
(2Timothy 1:12). John says “These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God;
that ye may know that ye have eternal life”
(1John 5:13). BUT, that assurance has to come from two
things:
First there needs to be an
inner witness of God’s Spirit that we are indeed His.
Romans 8:16 says: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with
our spirit that we are children of God” 1John 5:10 says:
“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in
himself”. How dare we tell people they are born again
when God does not bear witness to that fact? The problem
is that there are far too many people running around
claiming they have the witness of God simply because
they have been brainwashed into believing a lie.
Second there needs to be
external evidence (fruit) of the fact that we are born
again. Let me make it simple: If your life has not
changed – you are not saved. How difficult is that to
understand? Being born again will be evidenced by new
desires, new habits, new lifestyles, new values, new
language, new friends, new thought patterns etc. If the
fruit is rotten, the tree is rotten, simple as that. You
can tell a rock as many times as you like that it is a
child of God, it does not change the facts.
Are we then to leave people
in a state of uncertainty? Yes – until they find their
assurance from the only One who has the right to give
that assurance! I know that that means people may need
to spend time on their knees and in the Bible. Since
when is seeking God’s face and wrestling with eternal
issues bad?
Anton Bosch
anton@ifcb.net
3310
W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank,
CA, 91505
Tel
818 846 5520
www.burbankchurch.org